There's More to Tony Than He'd Like You to Know
by The Lollipop Assassin
Summary: A series of stories about Tony and his emotions. Everyone thinks that he is an egotistical man who cares little about anyone who is not himself, but that is not true. The first story is about the Avengers learning that Coulson is still alive and the emotional results that come from this revelation. The second is Steve becoming fed up with Tony's behavior. Chap. 1 has all summaries.
1. Story Summaries

**He's Alive**

The Avengers learn that Coulson is still alive and the results that come from this revelation are very emotional.

 **Steve Gets Mad**

Steve becomes fed up with Tony's behavior and reacts quite violently.

 **The Silent Jester**

Tony is mute. It is as simple as that, or maybe not, seeing as nobody knows how or why.

 **Tony's Childhood**

Tony is kidnapped and during the recovery mission, the Avengers team finds a young child and the arc reactor. They come to find out that the kid is a de-aged Tony Stark and in the process of waiting for him to turn back into his regular self, they learn about his childhood.

 **College**

Tony Stark is a slut. Everyone knows that. Well, unless you ask his friends. And if you ask Clint? That's the complete opposite of the truth.

 **Tony(i)**

Tony discovers that his gender identity may not exactly be the one he was designated at birth.

 **Fathers are Blood, Dads Don't Have to Be**

Tony's father is Howard, but it's time that everyone found out who his dad is.


	2. He's Alive Ch1

" So you've been alive for how long?" Tony asked in disbelief.

" I was only really dead for a few minutes. SHEILD doctors revived me. I'm more machine than man, but I'm still me." Coulson answered calmly and professionally.

" What've you been doing all this time?" Clint asked, sounding quite irritated.

" I have been working with a secret team." He told them.

" Four years," Tony muttered, " Four fucking years."

" Stark! Have some respect," Steve scolded, " If he could've contacted any of us, he would've." Tony just shook his head,

" I believe it's more about want than the ability to." Tony retorted.

" Calm down and listen to him Stark! This is no way to treat a returning soldier." Steve shot back, just as quick.

" So tell me, why is it that you didn't try to contact your _original_ team? Did One Eye over here tell you not to? Or did you just choose not to?" Tony turned back to Coulson.

" It was important that I not interfere with your progress," he replied. With that, Tony stood up,

" Agent Coulson, Director Furry, Agent Hill, due to recent events there are new rules that will have to be set into place on my relationship with SHEILD."

" Stark what are you doing?!" Steve nearly yelled.

" Tony..." Bruce called out softly. Tony ignored both of them,

" As of this moment, no agent of SHEILD, aside from members of the Avengers, will be allowed on the personal levels of St- Avengers tower. If anyone attempts to use their access to get you onto said levels, they will be banned as well. I will contact you later and give you a list of floors that you will be allowed to meet us on. If you lie to me again, I will not hesitate to hack into SHEILD's database to find out what I need to know. In addition, any technology that SHEILD currently has that I provided will stay with you, but I **_will not_** be providing any more. Only members of the Avengers team will be given technology and if they attempt to provide you with even the smallest piece of my tech, they will be kicked out of the tower. Am I understood?"

" What makes you think that you are in any position to make such demands?" Hill asked, as Furry simply scowled down at Tony and Coulson attempted to look as impassive as possible.

" I think the Director knows good and well that if you choose not to cooperate, I will make sure that you lives are a living hell," Tony spat, his tone becoming harsher and harsher as the sentence went on.

" With that, I am off." He walked out of the room, with his fellow Avengers staring in shock.

" I apologize on Stark's behalf sir. That was highly unprofessional of him." Steve said calmly.

" You are dismissed."


	3. He's Alive Ch2

" I can't believe him. He's really crossed the li-" Steve rambled on as he and the team flew to the tower.

" All due respect Captain shut the hell up," Bruce growled. After a long and awkward flight, they arrived at the tower and walked onto the common floor, to see no sign of Tony.

" JARVIS, where is Stark?" Steve asked.

" I am not permitted to share that information with you, Captain Rogers," JARVIS informed him.

" Seriously?" Steve sighed, exasperated. Wordlessly, Clint and Bruce stepped back onto the elevator and went to find Tony. When they found him, he was on one of the restricted floors that only Clint and Bruce were allowed on. He was gripping a table with his back was turned to them, so whether he was shaking because he was crying or having an anxiety attack, they didn't know.

" Tony?" Bruce called out, gingerly. The man in question didn't turn around, but after a long minute, he choked out a response,

" F-four y-ye-ars. H-he's been alive for ALL FOUR YEARS," Tony's grip on the table tightened to the point that blood began to trickle out.

" Tony," Clint tried, this time, slowly approaching the man.

" Leave me alone." He muttered, then thought about it for a second and apologized, " He's irrelevant now."

" Come on Tony, we know you. It's okay to be upset that your now **_ex_** -boyfriend isn't really dead. He lied to you. Furry lied to you. You're allowed to feel betrayed," Bruce assured him, throwing a concerned glance at the hands that were steadily tightening on the sharp edge of the glass table, " Tony, calm down. You're hurting your hands." At this, Tony looked down confused as if he didn't know what he was doing and lifted his hands, inspecting them.

" Let's go to the lab. Bruce can fix up your hands." Clint tried, putting his hand on Tony's shoulder, gently guiding him towards the elevator.

" What are you doing?" Tony asked.

" We're your boyfriend and your best friend, it's our jobs to take care of you," Clint assured him as they got on the elevator and began descending down to the lab. When they arrived and stepped off, Bruce stitched and bandaged Tony's relatively shallow, yet still concerning gashes.

" I'm ordering Indian," Bruce announced.

" What about the others?" Tony asked, clutching his head and accepting the pills offered by Bruce for his oncoming headache.

" What about them?"


	4. He's Alive Ch3

" Look Stark," Steve began the next day at breakfast, " I get that you're upset, but that doesn't give you permission to give SHEILD unreasonable demands, then disappear during team night. As if that wasn't enough, you made Clint and Bruce run after you so they missed it too. Don't you get how important they are?"

" Good morning to you too," Clint said, taking a seat at the kitchen's island.

" Well?" Steve repeated, ignoring Clint and staring down Tony, who still hadn't answered. Tony didn't know what he was thinking, but the words that flowed out of his mouth next were disastrous,

" You wouldn't understand being from the olden times and all, but me and Phil... we were a thing before he _'died' ._ We... uh... dated for a while. That-"

" What do you mean you _dated_?" Steve snarled.

" We-"

" I know what it means. I mean how can you pose as some type of hero, when you're really just-" The rest of the words that he said were blurred out as Tony couldn't bring himself to listen, instead remembering the same speech he'd gotten those years ago. He ignored what was going on around him, vaguely aware of the fact that Steve had grabbed him roughly and Clint punched Steve in the face. He even heard what sounded like Bruce growing and transforming into the Hulk, but the transformation mustn't have happened because to his knowledge, there was no mass destruction happening around him. Then he felt himself being ushered, well more like dragged, away. The funny thing is, he didn't remember beginning to panic. Yet there he was somewhere in the tower in a full-fledged panic attack, all because the Captain had brought up some unpleasant memories. His mind was racing so fast that he even flinched away from the gentle hand that was trying to calm him. Some part of his mind knew it wasn't a threat. It was Clint. Clint's good. Though, the rest of his brain was telling him that it was bad. Funny thing panic attacks. At some point, he began to feel tired, probably from panicking too long, and slowly he became more aware of the world around him. His cheeks were wet and his mouth tasted disgustingly like salt, which likely meant he'd been crying. How pathetic.

" It's not pathetic." Someone familiar whispered, but of course, it was. Having a panic attack just because Steve grabbing him brought up some bad memories. Not that Steve would mind being compared to such a fine and honorable man like his father. It was his fault, it was Tony's. His fault for being this way. His fault for bringing it up. He's too old for this shit.

" It's not your fault and you're not too old," a different voice assured him. That must mean he was thinking aloud, " Yeah. You are."

" Sorry," he told them.

" Don't be. Feel better now?" Bruce replied as Tony leaned onto him for support, all he got as an answer was a nod. Then Tony abruptly got up and walked over to his desk,

" I have work to do."

" I'd rather you not. Your hands are injured."

" I- I need something to do," Tony admitted, not looking up at either of them. Bruce looked at Clint and sighed,

" Take it easy, okay?... JARVIS, tell me if he does anything that would threaten his health." With that, Bruce and Clint left Tony to his own devices. When they went back to the common floor, Thor and Steve were missing. Natasha informed them that the two had taken it upon themselves to kick the captain out of the tower and Thor had escorted him put, to ensure that there was no trouble. Later that night, Bruce had JARVIS shut down the lab, forcing Tony to join them for dinner and a movie. Natasha watched as Bruce rewrapped Tony's hands, as a few stitches had come a loose and his bandages soaked through. She knew better than to ask him what had happened to his hands; that was a question for Bruce and Clint. Thor, on the other hand, was quite vocal about the fact that homosexuality was a normal thing in Asgard and that he had a right to be upset upon learning that his lover- ex, Tony corrected- was not truly dead and that he had been lied to for so long. He also shared how angry and disappointed he was in Steve for not accepting his teammate and for his violent behavior. It went without saying that everyone was in agreement that Steve would only have a chance of being accepted back into the tower if Tony was comfortable with it. By the end of the night, Tony was dozing off on Bruce's shoulder, breathing calmly with a content expression on his face. This was what it felt like to be safe.

 **AN: So here you go. The last chapter of the first story. Let me know what you think and feel free to send in requests. Also yes, I know I never made it clear whether Bruce was his boyfriend or if Clint was. Let your imagination decide that. Other stories will be clearer on the topic, but I felt this one deserved a special sense of ambiguity.**


	5. Steve Gets Mad

**AN: In this story, the Avengers are still the Avengers, but they're younger. Everyone is mid-20s to early thirties(well except for Thor, of course) and Tony is the youngest.**

"Stark! I am tired of this reckless behavior! What if we were called in right now and you were drunk?!" Steve yelled in Tony's face, not noticing how the man was beginning to shake.

"Relax Cap," Tony slurred slightly and grimaced at the volume of Steve's voice, leaving out " _I'm not drunk, I'm just getting over a migraine."_

"That's it! It's time for you to sober up," Steve screeched, grabbing Tony roughly and shoving him towards the sink.

"Stop. What are you doing?" Tony protested and struggled, but the stronger man ignored him. Steve threw Tony's head into the sink and turned on the water. By this time, the entire team, excluding Bruce, was in the kitchen, but there was not enough time to stop him.

"ROGERS! LET GO," Natasha yelled as she realized what he was doing. After continuing to struggle for a few moments, Tony grabbed a paring knife from the sink and thrust it into Steve's deltoid( **shoulder muscle** ). Steve let go in shock and Tony flew backwards and hit his head on the sharp corner of the fridge, then squeezed himself into the small area between the fridge and the wall.

"What -" Steve started, only to be cut off by Bruce,

"What's going on here?" He was growling and turning green, dangerously close to hulking out.

"Bruce," Natasha turned to face him, "Tony needs you. You have to calm yourself down."

"I know. I know." Bruce barked and sighed softly, looking his trembling teammate. Steve just stood there, confusion and anger on his face, along with a bruise forming from Clint punching him as Natasha helped Bruce. When she was sure that Bruce would be able to handle himself, Natasha switched herself back to Steve,

"Thor, take Rogers away." Thor just nodded and immediately reacted, dragging Steve away with ease. When Thor and Steve were out of the room, all attention was turned to the 25 year old.

"Tony? Tony you need to calm down," Clint tried, approaching him slowly in a crouched stance, hands held up so he looked as harmless as possible. Regardless of his attempts, when he got within just a few feet of Tony, he scrambled backwards and flattened himself against the wall even more, "Okay. Okay, I'll back up."

"N-no... please," Tony whimpered, "I don't want to."

"Shh, Tony you're okay. It'll be alright." Bruce told him gently, approaching Tony in the same manner that Clint just had, but stopped to sit down when he was around 5 feet away. Then he turned to Clint, "Clint, grab something from the fridge. Something with a strong and recognizable sent. JARVIS play some AC/DC at a low volume."

"Of course, Dr. Banner," JARVIS responded, playing it immediately as Clint passed Bruce some of the blueberry, lemon pastries that Tony loved.

"Tony, I need you to pay attention," Bruce ordered, purposefully ignoring the whimper that came out of Tony's mouth, "Wherever you think you are, you're not there."

"No!"

"Tony, it's Bruce, okay? Pay attention to your surroundings. Listen to my voice and the AC/DC JARVIS is playing. Pay attention to what you smell, okay. You have to be in the tower because I'm the one who first made you try these." As he talked, Tony began to calm down and he inched forward and eventually was close enough to teach out and rub the small of Tony's back, which led to him lunging at Bruce and sobbing into his shoulder, " Hey. Hey, it's okay. I'm here." Then after a while he suggested they watch a movie and led Tony over to the couch, Clint and Natasha trailing behind them. Then they just sat there watching movie after movie, rotating choices, Tony practically in Bruce's lap. At some point Bruce had left to pick up the food they'd ordered and something about the action movie Clint had picked set something off in Tony and Natasha reached over to do the same thing Bruce had earlier. Luckily it calmed him back down and the rest of the night was quiet. Tony even admitted the obvious, that him and Bruce were dating. Then he repeated it for Thor with more confidence than before when he returned without Steve, who was staying in his old apartment indefinitely. Of course, Thor congratulated them (even though he already knew) and sat down to enjoy the night with them. After a while, Bruce leapt up in shock,

"I never inspected your head. Oh my god, I have to check you for head wounds maybe even a concussion."

"I'm fi- OW! Bruce!" Tony yelled accusingly when his boyfriend prodded at a lump on his head. Luckily, there was no blood, but Bruce still cleaned it with alcohol before putting ice on it. Tony passed the concussion test,

"I'm still worried. Let me know if you have any discomfort or symptoms."

"You worry too much Bruce."


	6. The Silent Jester Ch1

**AN: Another young Avengers fic, Tony is mute.**

Tony never really spoke to the Avengers, or anyone for that matter. He couldn't speak or wouldn't and communicated through ASL, as he had through his childhood. When he did want to speak (and he usually did), he had JARVIS translate what he would say for him using a small, hardly visible, earpiece. The coms were specially made so that anything he wanted to say would easily be translated, in a different, but similar, way to his earpiece. While it was JARVIS translating, the voice that came through was not his, but a voice unique to Tony. It could actually be any voice he chose, which of course, he used to his advantage when imitating the others.

Though, he didn't always use his translator. Sometimes Clint and Natasha would speak to him in ASL and wouldn't mention the tiny, genuine smile that only the most observant of people could notice. Bruce would also use it, but not often, seeing as when they were in the lab it was not as easy as just speaking. Then there was Thor, who would try but Tony assured him he didn't have to and Steve didn't really seem to try at all. He explained that he had never been good at learning languages and that it was nothing personal, but as he and Tony became closer, well less like enemies, Steve began to learn some basic ASL.

One day in particular, the two were arguing and Tony was using ASL for he was still getting over a small ear infection and Bruce refused to allow him to wear his translator. He was absolutely furious, signing almost too fast and sharp for Steve to understand. At some point, he reached over to the stove next to him to pick up a pot and slammed it back down onto the stove in his attempt to be as loud as possible and make any noise akin to yelling. This, along with Steve's startled gasp, alarmed the others, who had been ignoring them. Apparently, the electric stove that he'd assumed was off, was on and the pot with only a little bit of liquid in it had some quite warm oil in it. An infuriated Tony barely paid attention to his now burned hands, but the others decided that it was worth their time (they were bleeding, peeling and blistered after all).

"Oh Tony, what'd you do that for?" Bruce asked, taking his hands gingerly. Tony just gave him a pointed look that couldn't have said, "You know why." and "You can't possibly expect me to answer that while you're holding my hands." better if he'd verbalized it.

"Oh stop that," he scolded, cleaning the wounds, "Who left the stove on?"

"My bad," Clint admitted guiltily. When Bruce finished cleaning Tony's hands, they were discovered to not be as bad as they could've been. Merely mild burns that barely crossed the line from first to second degree, that would probably leave some small scarring but wouldn't really do any serious damage.

The next day, the Avengers were called in for a mission. They were in the middle of battling the robot minions of the latest villain when a robot began approaching Steve from behind, which went unnoticed by all except Tony. It would take just a second too long to use the keyboard to type a message for JARVIS to relay **(AN: Tony is currently using the same type of technology that has been used with paralyzed individuals. You use your eyes to move across a keyboard and it types the letters you look at. Also, he can hear them because JARVIS us relaying the message, no com needed** ).

"Cap, watch behind you! " Tony shouted. His voice was similar to the one that was relayed by the device that he usually used, the only difference being the fact that his words seemed to smoosh together and his voice was slightly throaty from disuse.

"HOLY SHIT! You can talk." Clint gasped. Obviously, this was not an appreciated reaction, seeing as Tony didn't say(well type) another word that wasn't completely necessary for the rest of the fight, not even to make jokes. He sat through the debriefing, making a multitude of on snide comments trying to seem normal in a shoddy attempt that was obviously fake only to the redheaded spy and the man who could sometimes turn into a large, green rage monster. It was a boring, unextraordinary debriefing. Then Steve, who couldn't even find himself to have the decency not to mention the most unexpected event of the day, turned slightly and glanced at Tony with a look that showed just how miffed he was,

"Oh! And apparently Stark here _can_ speak!"

"Is that so," the director asked, sounding unfazed, sounding as humorless as usual, "Well if that's all, you may be dismissed."

"What? All due respect sir, you can't be serious. He's been lying to us this whole time," Steve protested.

"Rogers, I have another meeting to get to and seeing as this is not a pressing matter, I see no reason why it should take up any more of my time."

Tony left in the Iron Man suit, rather than joining his teammates on the quinjet where Steve was still complaining about the other man,

"I can't believe him! He's convinced us all that he can't speak and he CAN!" No one said anything until Thor broke the silence,

"I do not believe it to be that simple."

"It is that though Thor; he can speak. You heard him." Thor just so his head and calmly responded,

"If you say so Captain." The comment lacked all harsh or offensive tones but managed to sound exceedingly patronizing to those who were listening closely enough. The rest of the short flight was met with silence.


	7. The Silent Jester Ch2

**AN: So italics means that whatever was said was signed and single quotations means it was signed ONLY, whereas regular quotes means it was signed and spoken.**

Tony was pacing, gripping his hair, in the process of having a panic attack when Natasha and Bruce made their way into the lab. Jarvis almost hadn't let them go down because of his orders from Tony not to let anyone down, but upon observing his creators concerning distress, he was able to override said orders due to energy protocol.

"Tony? What's going on?" Bruce asked carefully, slowly stepping off the elevator. Tony either didn't notice them or was deliberately ignoring them because he kept panicking.

"Дурака?" Natasha called him by his nickname and placed a gentle, tentative hand on his shoulder. He flew backward onto the ground and squawked, a protective hand landing on his chest over the arc reactor. " _Watch me. Watch me. You have to calm down. What's wrong? Why are you so upset?_ " She signed as she spoke, hoping to reach him one way or another.

 _'Bad! Bad!_ ' He signed in jerky movements, ' _Sorry_.'

" _What is bad?"_ She tried again.

' _I talked. I'm not supposed to talk.'_ Then his eyes went wide, ' _Don't tell dad. Please, you can't tell dad.'_

" _Okay, okay. I won't. I promise."_ She cradled the youngest avenger in her arms as he slowly calmed down and began to come back to the present.

 _'Tash? What are you doing here?_ ' He asked eventually.

" _Tony, can you tell us what's wrong? That was a pretty bad panic attack you had."_ Bruce tried, signing and speaking softly.

' _I'm fine.'_ He told them and struggled to get out of Natasha's arms. Eventually, his attempts proved futile and he slumped into her hold.

"Tony." Natasha scolded pointedly.

' _Can we not?!'_

"Дурака, if this is about what happened during the mission, no one is upset," Natasha assured him. At this, he grunted and shook his head frantically.

' _Liar. Steve and Clint are.'_ Bruce knew very well what Tony was referring to. Thanks to dedicated and complicated meditation, he no longer forgot everything that happened whilst he was the hulk.

" _Tony, you know Clint didn't mean any harm. He was shocked is all, he never intended to get your feelings. And Steve is notorious for overreacting, don't worry about him. We all have your back."_ Tony simply replied with a small, jerky, unconvincing nod when Bruce said this, " _You look exhausted. You need to sleep."_

After checking over Tony for injuries and taking care of them, he and Natasha led the genius up to his room where they waited until he fell asleep to leave. Bruce sighed heavily as they got into the elevator,

"So Tony is selectively mute."

"And it has something to do with Howard Stark." Natasha continued.

"And whatever progress led to him talking orally has just been eradicated," Bruce barked, closing his eyes to calm himself and stop the Hulk from coming out. Natasha rubbed her boyfriend's back and got off on her floor,

"Come on. Let's go get some sleep."

It was a few days after the mission where Tony spoke when disaster struck. Well less disaster, more a complete misunderstanding and a complete overreaction by Steve. He had given Tony instructions to help Clint and instead he continued to pursue the "villain of the day"'s minions and save a bus load of people. He may have done a good job, but he still ignored direct orders and this to time his suit was too damaged for him to just fly off.

"You disobeyed direct orders and because of you, Clint is injured and it could have been prevented!" Steve yelled.

"I'm fine. It's barely a sprained ankle," Clint assured them.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Steve protested and Tony, who had been watching him closely, flinched, clenched his eyes tight and ripped out his com.

' _I told you, it's broken.' Tony signed lazily and let his hand fall to his side when he was done._

"That's not good enough. And we all know that you can talk, so just do so." Their leader commanded to a quite ill looking Tony, who was now only watching him with one eye open and his head lolled to the side.

"That's enough! Be quiet Captain... and everyone else for that matter. I have to check Tony over for a concussion." Bruce announced, stepping forward with the small medical kit that they kept on the Quinjet. When he walked over and gently placed a hand on Tony's shoulder, the other man flinched and slammed his head into to wall behind him. His eyes then snapped open and he looked around in a panic, like he was being attacked, "You're okay, you're okay. I'm just checking you for a head injury."

' _Fine,'_ was all he was able to sign before passing out.

"Shit, well it doesn't look like a concussion. If anything I think he may have a severe migraine and exhaustion. But we'll have to monitor him closely."

Later in his room, Tony woke up to see that he was being watched by Clint, who was perched atop an armchair in the corner of his room,

" _Hey, feeling any better now_?" He received a small nod, " _Can I ask you something_?" Another nod, this one was hesitant, but still a nod. The two had been flirting and suiting each other for months, but neither wanted to make the first move. That's to say, they'd formed a special bond that was closer to romantic than platonic and was based on a lot of trust, ' _Were you ever planning on telling me that you are Deaf?"_ At this question, Tony just about lost his mind. He was thrown into one of the worst panic attacks he'd had in a while and Clint rushed forward to help, cursing under his breath. He carefully approached Tony and tried to help him calm down, but when it became clear that he wouldn't be any help, he just sat down next to him and waited for Natasha and Bruce to arrive, and seconds later, they did.

"What happened? How is he?" Bruce asked in both concerned doctor mode and upset best friend mode.

"He's having a panic attack." Clint clarified, moving out of the way.

"Obviously!" Bruce spat, "What triggered it?"

"I... I asked him about his Deafness." Clint told the pair, who shared a look, then got to work comforting the small man and pulling him out of his mind. When he was finally calm enough, Tony shakily began to explain,

' _I began losing my hearing when I was little, and Howard hated it. He said I'd be useless Deaf, but didn't want me getting a cochlear implant, so he just had his scientists get to work on making me amplified, extra-small hearing aids. I never lost all my hearing, so they were able to correct it and I could hear just fine... But as you heard the other day my voice sounds stupid so he made me pretend to be mute in public. Then he would hit me if I spoke at home, so I just stopped talking altogether.'_

 _"And today, whatever was able to do such extreme damage your suit, broke your hearing aids." Bruce clarified._ Tony nodded _,_

 _'All technology that goes in my ears, coms, my translators, Bluetooths are also hearing aids. When it broke my com, it broke everything. I'm really sorry about that by the way, Clint.'_ **(AN: Just so you know, this would not be impossible to do. I have friends who are hard of hearing and their hearing aids allow them to connect to devices via Bluetooth and listen to audio)**

 _'I don't blame you, you know. You made the better decision and saved more people.'_ Clint told him.

 _'But you're hurt.'_

 _'I'm fine... And you know Tony... I quite like your voice.'_ Tony gave Clint a small involuntary smile at this. He still looked unsure, like Clint might be lying to him, but the fact that the comment had done wonders to improve Tony's mood spoke volumes. Natasha and Bruce shared a look, then backed out of the room. Clint could handle this.


	8. Tony's Childhood Ch1

"Shit, uh we have a situation," Clint reported through his com.

"Language, Barton. You found Stark?" Steve asked. They were currently on a retrieval mission to save Tony, as at his most recent company meeting, he was drugged and kidnapped before the suit or anyone else could assist him. It had taken them 2 weeks to track him down and when they finally did, it was thanks to the fact that at some point some type of tracking device was able to send a brief message that gave them a location that they could follow up on. Of course, it could have been a trap, but it was the best lead they had and likely some type of message from Tony, so they decided to suit up and go to the location. Rather than respond, Clint made a choking sound and cursed again,

"No, uh there's a kid here... and the arc reactor."

"What do you mean _the arc reactor_?" It was Bruce's voice who chimed in sharply, this time. He wasn't currently the Hulk as they figured "Bruce mode" would probably be more helpful when they retrieved Tony, but the stress of what Clint was about to say probably would send him into "Hulk mode" within the next few moments if he didn't choose his word and tone very carefully.

"I'm standing in front of a holding cell with a kid in it... no older than... 6 maybe and in the back corner I can see the arc reactor. It doesn't look damaged so that's good... right?"

"Yeah," Bruce took a deep breath, "Yes. As long as it hasn't been out for long and there is no damage to the casing, it should be easy for me to put it back in with minimal problems, but it's important we find Tony as soon as possible. We don't know how long the reactor has been out."

"Steady breaths Bruce," Natasha reminded him in a low voice, at his side. Then louder and to his realization, with her com back on, as she had disabled it so the others didn't realize she had to remind him to breathe properly, "How long can he go without it?" She probably already knew the answer, but he replied anyway,

"Honestly? I don't know. It all depends on the situation. Considering we can assume that he was being tortured, or at least being put through some type of stress worse than the general stress of kidnapping, not long." There was a pause where no one said anything.

"Alright, Barton you take care of the kid and watch out for any more guards. The rest of us will search for Stark and meet up with you when we find him. Remember, when you come across anyone take them out, but don't do too much damage. Fury told me he wants them in good enough condition to question them when we're done here, or at least the leader." However, when they searched the facility, there was no one. The building was eerily, completely empty except for the two guards they had subdued upon arrival. When the others began to arrive at Clint's destination, they discovered that he had gotten the cell's door open and was attempting to talk to the small child who was just staring at him, unfazed. Even when Thor, who probably looked like the giant of all giants, as _Clint_ towered over the kid, he remained calm and seemed to just be standing there taking everything in. Whoever this kid was, he wasn't even afraid of the fact that they all had weapons, to least not to the average person. Clint could see the defensive undertones in his stance. Bruce saw the way that his eyes seemed to have the same glint as Tony's, taking every tiny bit of information in, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to someone else. Thor immediately noticed that he could sense that there was magic around them. Natasha noticed how the child reminded her both of the Red Room and Tony himself.

"Be careful friends, there I sense a magic in this room," Thor told them as Steve arrived. When the kid saw Steve, all hell broke loose. He made a squawking sound and practically threw himself backward into a corner; the little progress that Clint had made and Bruce was beginning to make was all for naught. He then grabbed the closest item to him to throw as a projectile, which happened to be the arc reactor, and Natasha was the first to recover. She slowly approached him, with both hands visible in a nonaggressive manner, but as soon as she was close enough, he abandoned his weapon and stole a gun from it's hidden place on her ankle, sweeping her feet in the process. Of course, she caught her balance right away and was able to stop him as he went for a clear shot at Steve's head,

"Calmati, piccolo. Dammi la pistola." The kid looked unsure, so Natasha continued, "Antonio, va tutto bene. Io ti proteggerò se lui ti dà problemi." He offered her the gun but continued to eye Steve warily.

"...Well, we better get going. We can take him to the Helicarier, see what Fury wants us to do with him." Clint decided.

 **Translations:**

"Calmati, piccolo. Dammi la pistola."- "Calm down, little one. Give me the gun."

"Antonio, va tutto bene. Io ti proteggerò se lui ti dà problemi."- "Antonio, everything is alright. I will protect you if he gives you any problems."


	9. Tony's Childhood Ch2

**This is after Winter Soldier, so Sam will be in it (as an Avenger), but SHEILD didn't fall and Furry is still the leader.**

"It's Tony," Bruce repeated in a hushed tone, "Somehow Tony was magically de-aged... Well, it does look like him, but how did you know for certain?"

"My newest weapon upgrade was fingerprint scanners on all of my guns. Only members of the team can take them out of their holsters and in turn, use them to shoot targets." Natasha explained.

"I know. I'm his lab partner; he tested the technology on Sam, Rhodey, and I before giving them to you. The question is, what do we do about this? And more importantly... why was he so afraid of Steve? And how did you know that speaking in Italian would help?" Bruce asked.

"Adult Tony can be soothed with Italian, it made sense."

"Right." Bruce looked over at the child, who was currently staring across the quinjet, directly at them.

"Alright, ETA 5 minutes," Clint announced. When they arrived at the Helicarier and got off, Fury and Agent Hill met them at the entrance. Fury looked at them expectantly, then before anyone could say anything, his eyes fell on the child and he frowned,

"Debrief room. Now," when they got to the debriefing room, Fury had Agent Hill take the child into the next room. "Does anyone want to tell me how and why you've brought back a child? And how he looks so much like Stark?"

"Well that's it Director, Bruce and I believe that he may be a de-aged version of Star," Natasha told him.

"How?" Fury demanded.

"I did sense a strong presence of magic when we found him. It is possible that a curse could have been placed on friend Stark." Thor agreed.

"Wait, but what about the arc reactor? Wouldn't he still need it?" Steve asked, more to Bruce than anyone else.

"Well, theoretically if he were reverted back to what his body was like at that age, and not simply de-aged, no, he wouldn't." Bruce explained, before inquiring, "Is that possible Thor?"

"Sorcery is not an area I know much of, but it sounds like a spell that could have been cast," Thor furrowed his brow in deep thought.

"Could it have been Loki?" Steve wondered.

"Nay! My brother is securely confined in his holding cell on Asgard."

"Well go to Asgard and make sure he still is. The rest of you, go to the tower and don't let a single person see him in this condition." Furry ordered,"You are dismissed."

The Avengers, save Thor, arrived at the tower to find Sam and Rhodey, who had both been on a month long mission of their own, lounging on the couch. Though they were both Avengers, they were both still in the military and went on missions when needed.

"Where's T-" Rhodey started, but cut himself off when he saw him and sighed, "How?"

"How what? Who's the kid?" Sam questioned sitting up straight.

"Well, it's either somehow Tony himself, or a clone... Which is it?"

"He was de-aged," Bruce explained.

"How'd you-" Steve started.

"I've seen pictures of him when he was this age. There is no way that you found and brought back a kid who just so happened to look exactly like him." Rhodey told him.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, him and Rhodey were both standing now.

 **Sorry, this took so long. I know it's short and barely anything, but I'll try to do better.**


	10. Tony's Childhood Ch3

"Well he was kidnapped," Bruce started. He was worried about his lab partner, his closest friend, so it goes without saying that he was probably the most concerned person on the team, along with Natasha. However, even he was a little uneasy about relaying all the information.

"When?" Rhodey questioned right away.

"2 weeks ago," Natasha replied, calmly as she walked back into the room. She had just taken the child-Tony-out of the room so that he was out of earshot for the conversation.

"And no one thought to inform us?" Sam had a small harsh bite in his voice that was hard not to notice. He and Tony weren't exactly dating, but they had been flirting with each other and became very close over the past few months. It doesn't take a genius to see what was going on and Clint even tried to start a betting pool as to when they would get together. The only person still in the dark about it was Steve. Partly because he probably didn't realize that their mutual flirting went beyond jokes, and also because no one told him. Tony probably didn't want them to know, let alone a man from the 30's.

"You were on a mission! And we... well we didn't think it would take so long." Bruce explained. When he wasn't interrupted, he continued, "We don't know how it happened, but Thor said he felt the magic. He went to Asgard."

"So what," Rhodey started calmly and tiredly, "We're just going to wait? Let him stay like this?"

"Well... for right now, yes." Bruce appreciated how calm the colonel was, as he was already focussing hard on not hulking out.

"Okay," Sam still sounded short, but he had begun to calm down, "Okay, we should go get him from the other room and figure this out. We need to know what we're going to do about him for the next while."

"Yeah... yes, that's a good idea." Bruce agreed and began walking to the other room, followed by the other Avengers. When the arrived in the other room, they found him staring absentmindedly at the wall across the room.

"Uh, what's wrong with him?" Clint asked. Bruce automatically going into doctor mode became worried about te possibility that he was having a seizure,

"Shit. Rhodes, do you know if he has a history of seizures?"

"Seizures? No. This is actually pretty normal for him, he used to do it all the time in college. He just checks out." Rhodey eyed Tony carefully, taking in all of his body language.

"Checked out?" Steve wondered, speaking for the first time since they arrived at the tower, still confused as to why Tony would be afraid of him.

"Yeah... kind of like a loading computer," Rhodey chuckled at what was obviously Tony's description of the action, "At times of high stress or when he has a lot to take in, he just zones out so he can process all the information. But he is still aware of everything going on around him, subconsciously."

"Huh... like a sleeping cat." Clint snorted.

"Now that I think about, I've seen him do that in the lab before a "Eureka" moment." Bruce relayed fondly, relieved that it wasn't a seizure.

"He's done it in battle, but I don't think it has gone on this long before," Natasha said, almost as if the statement was a prediction, Tony turned to them and blinked.

"Are you hungry?" Rhodey asked, approaching the boy slowly. Tony's face scrunched up and looked past Rhodey at Steve, skeptically. Natasha stepped in to assist him,

"Va tutto bene. Non preoccuparti per lui, lui non farà nulla perché noi siamo qui." Tony looked from Natasha to Rhodey and back again, then nodded and slid off of the couch, waiting for them to lead him to the kitchen.

"The kitchen is this way." Rhodey and Natasha took the lead, seeing as he seemed to trust them. When in the kitchen, Rhodey began taking out the ingredients for pancakes. There was a box of mix, but Tony considered pre-made mix to be blasphemous. He also took out white chocolate chips-not milk or semisweet or dark because that would be a mortal sin-fresh blueberries-not the disgusting frozen kind- and apple sauce. Everyone knows that apple sauce is the key to a fluffy pancake. The other ingredients were pastry flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, eggs, butter, and milk. The dry ingredients were all premixed and the rest of the ingredients were all measured out, so all he had to do was mix the wet ingredients and the fillers in with the dry ingredients.

" That seems like a lot of work for pancakes," Steve commented and watched Tony tense at the sound of his voice. He couldn't help but feel slightly offended.

"Not if you've ever had Tony's pancakes." Bruce hummed with a small smile on his face at the thought of them. Natasha and Rhodey nodded in agreement.

" Well, how come I have never had them?" Clint asked.

"He only cooks for certain people," Rhodey told him as he was heating up the pan.

"Right." Clint turned to the child Tony, "So why the radio silence huh?" The boy just frowned and turned back to watch Rhodey. He tried again, "Non devi avere paura. Noi siamo i buoni."

This time the boy squirmed a bit in his chair. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself. Pretty soon the first batch was done and he threw them into the refrigerator, explaining that he likes his pancakes to cool off before he eats them, when they are filled with something. The same rule applies to every other baked good, except for bread. Raisin bread, cinnamon bread, and other sweet bread could be warm.

When he revived his food, he tenatively ate them as Rhodey made the rest of the team theirs. After a while, he turned to Natash and stared at her for a while. As if they had communicated telepathically, she nodded and led him to the bathroom,

"Seguimi. Io vi porterà al bagno."

He seemed old enough to go on his own, so Natasha let him close the door and was about to walk away when she heard him cry out in pain and collapse.

 **Translations- "Va tutto bene. Non preoccuparti per lui, lui non farà nulla perché noi siamo qui."- It's alright. Do not worry abouthim, he will not do anything because we are here.**

 **"Non devi avere paura. Noi siamo i buoni."- Do not be afraid. We're the good guys.**

 **Seguimi. Io vi porterà al bagno."- Follow me. I will take you to the bathroom**.


	11. Tony's Childhood Ch4

"Tony? Antonio?" Natasha tried to open the door, but it was locked. When she bust in the door, she saw Tony on the ground face down, with his feet lying on the toilet and his shirt around his neck, hardly covering his full back. It looked like he had been standing on the toilet and fell forward. Upon further examination, she saw a spot of blood on the washbowl of the sink, "Bruce?!"

Startled, Bruce nearly jumped out of his chair and rushed towards the bathroom, with the others following. Out of instinct, he grabbed his medical bag on the way. By the time they arrived, she was about to call for him again.

"Woah. What happened?" Clint asked. Bruce immediately jumped into doctor mode,

"Don't touch him! Stay back." He snapped when Clint went to help. He felt around Tony's neck and head and determined that it was okay for him to be readjusted. When he turned him over, he felt the tenderness of his skin and lifted up his shirt the rest of the way and gasped.

"What?" Rhodey asked.

"Ahem. Rhodes? Rhodey... maybe we should talk separately."

"What? No! What's going on?" Sam rushed.

"What is it?" Steve asked. Bruce lifted Tony's shirt off the rest of the way and moved out of the way, rubbing his forehead,

"Howard right?"

"Yeah," Rhodey sighed, "Yes. How..."

"I think that when the spell reversed his age, it took him back to exactly how he was at the time. Physical condition and all. The bruises are too old to have been from a recent fight and even if they were, they are specific to a certain type of attack. It's highly unlikely whoever had him would have done this. And even if that doesn't sound possible, he no longer has his arc reactor, so it's unlikely he would still have recent bruises. Does that sound possible Thor?"

"Aye. If it is the kind of magic that it seems to be, it shall run its course." Thor told him, frowning at the thought of the elder Stark haven beaten his child.

"What do you mean 'Howard'?" Steve sounded genuinely confused, but when Tony started to stir, he was ushered out of the room. Clint, Thor, and Sam left as well, to "create as little stress as possible", by orders of Bruce. When he finally woke up, Bruce had just finished treating a cut on his forehead and backed away.

"Hey. It's okay," he said placatingly, with his hands up, "We know about y- Howard. You don't have to worry. We won't hurt you."

Tony whispered something softly, his lips hardly moving.

"Yeah. Yes, we'll keep him away. Come on, let's find you somewhere to sleep... Don't worry, one of us will stay with you. How about Natasha?"

When he finally agreed to it, Natasha took him to her room and the two men joined their teammates in the other room. Apparently, Steve had been brought up to speed and was refusing to believe the facts. When they entered the room, Sam cleared his throat,

" I don't think that Tony would want us talking about this."

Around 10 hours later, Natasha had Jarvis alert them to the fact that he was awake and needed Bruce's assistance. Natasha has taken an arc reactor up with her just in case he woke up and needed it back in his chest, and wanted Bruce to check on him. Rhodey went too, of course.


	12. Tony's Childhood Ch5

"JARVIS let me up," Sam said softly, alerting Tony to his presence. After spending some time with Natasha, Bruce, and Rhodey in her room, he disappeared to his own, not letting anyone up, not wanting to talk.

"I told him not to." Tony didn't look away from what he was doing, which seemed to be writing or sketching on a tablet.

"Yeah. I overrode that," Sam told him, walking over to the bed to sit down. He waited for Tony's permission before actually sitting. When Tony shifted slightly, he sat down.

"So all of you know. _You_ know."

"It doesn't change anything... Well not for me."

"Of course it does! Now you know what... Why are you up here?"

"Whatever you're thinking isn't true. I had this friend growing up and I think I know what's going through your head."

"Oh really?" Tony scoffed.

"Maybe. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to... but I do have something I have to ask you." Tony huffed before nodding for him to continue, "Does this change the fact that I'm going to take you on a date? Because if it does that's okay, but I had this whole thing planned for when I got back. And Rhodes helped and, you know, I think Jim would be disappointed if we didn't go." Tony laughed,

"Not to mention I'm pretty sure that Natasha knows and you know how much she hates to be wrong."

Sam laughed, "Yea, see? We have to go on this date. Besides..." Sam leaned in and kissed Tony.

"And don't call him _'Jim'_ ," Tony mumbled.

 **AN: Hey guys! Sorry, my last update was so short and this one even shorter. I thought that they should be separate. I really do try guys, but I have chronic migraines and a lot of school work, so even when I have free time, sometimes I just can't write. The only thing I can promise is that I will keep update waiting time under a month. And if anyone wants to beta me, please let me know because even though I have "Grammarly" and fid no mistakes right before I update, I always find them later.**

 **Figuratively see you next time!**


	13. College Ch1

Everyone thought that Tony Stark was a slut, a player, someone who slept around. How could they not? Everyone knew the rumors, the girls that said they slept with him, the fact that he never denied. What they didn't know was that not only did he not sleep around, but in addition, he was dating Clint. All of his friends knew, just like they all knew that he wasn't nearly as arrogant and narcissistic as the facade that he put on. All of them except Steve that is. He wasn't even really Tony's friend; he was just a part of the group, friends' friend. The relationship between Steve and Tony was complicated. Steve not only believed all the rumors and thought that he was an ass, but he also knew Tony's father, which was a whole 'nother problem. To Steve, Howard was God: kind; loving; wise and Tony was Lucifer: rebellious; conniving; narcissistic. Not to mention how much Tony hated his father, for reasons Steve couldn't understand. In addition to all of the personal stuff between them, Steve was somewhat homophobic. While he respected Clint and never really said anything to him, he would make microaggressive comments to Tony. Not to mention he was constantly asking how "a guy like Clint" could date "a guy like Tony". Now other than this, Steve was a great guy. He was kind, caring, honest and had a very strong set of morals that he was dedicated to.

Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Steve, and Thor were sitting, eating lunch when Steve sucked his teeth and they all turned to see some girl flirting with Tony. She put her hand on his arm and when he didn't immediately shut her down, Steve asked,

"How can you stand him? He's flirting right in front of you."

"Steve-" Bruce started with a sigh.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Tony's gay and _I'm_ bi. He just doesn't want to make a scene out of turning them down." Clint told him, annoyed.

"Yo!" Tony sat down, "What's going on?"

"Well, you're late. Have more important things to do?" Natasha's tone was flat, but Tony knew that she was teasing.

"Oh, definitely. In class, we were discussing the downfalls of having a lot of money, but not enough to buy a country."

"Oh, so you." Clint shot back.

"Well, I can't buy a country. Maye an island." All except for Steve laughed, as whenever they talked about money, he felt like he was being mocked. Then he turned to Clint, "You still coming over tonight?"

"Mhm." Clint was eating and had learned his lesson about answering with his mouth full.

* * *

The night had gone great. Tony and Clint had watched a movie in Tony's apartment and Bruce was out with Natasha. That night, they began to get make out and it got heavier and heavier until Clint tried to take it a step further. After a few minutes, their night was interrupted by Tony being thrown into a full blown panic attack.


	14. College Ch2

Tony had fallen back off of the bed and practically thrown Clint away from him. Well, it was half him pushing and half Clint allowing himself to be thrown. He wasn't caught off guard. Clint was always very alert of the things going on around him and noticed the shift in Tony's behavior as they were kissing.

"Tones?" Clint asked, uneasy. He tried to touch his boyfriend on his shoulder, but he flinched and Clint backed away with his hands up in a placating manner. And after a few minutes of none of the usual improvement, he gave up. " _Tony_?...How about I call Nat...Okay. Okay, I'll call her." Natasha was the best and safest option. Rhodey _was_ in America, but he was currently on a base in Florida, somewhere around Tampa. If he called him, he'd probably know what to do, but he'd be pissed. And there'd be hell to pay for not only calling him when he wasn't close enough to just check in on Tony but also the calls that he would give Tony, when possible, checking in on him. Bruce would probably try to kill him, well not Bruce. He had DID, so it would technically be someone else. In reality, Natasha may try to kill him too, but she had the self-control that she would at least take care of the problem before doing so. And Tony had panic attacks; it was a well-known issue. Maybe this wasn't his fault.

"Clint," Natasha answered her phone.

"Hey, Natasha."

"What's wrong?"

"Wh- Tony. He's having a panic attack and I only make it worse. I don't know what to do."

"I'm coming." When she arrived, Clint was shirtless standing near the closet and Tony was trying to control his breathing with his back against the opposite wall.

"You could've put your shirt back on," Bruce came in behind her.

"Hey Tony," Natasha sat down in front of him, "You're doing a good job by yourself. I don't know why Clint called me."

"Birdbrain." He said after a while.

"Yeah... Want to tell me what's wrong?"

"It's... He's going to be mad at me." Tony muttered, finally calming down. Natasha never faltered, but Clint and Bruce looked at each other, equally worried and Clint, with his shirt finally on.

"No, he won't."

"Yes, he will... All those rumors about me because I did. A lot. With girls and after I was able to accept that I was gay, guys. And I hated it, especially afterward. I felt awful, but I did because I'm supposed to like sex. Right? But I don't and with Clint, it's different because I feel like I'm supposed to because I like him. And he wants to and I don't want to disappoint him. And I tried to go with it, but I knew where it was going tonight and I've just always hated sex. I mean honestly, it's pretty gross... I never even really imagine myself- well I guess. But not like I want to. But that's... wrong, right? It's not normal. EVERYONE LIKES SEX!" Tony's words were running together as he became hysterical, almost causing himself to start panicking again. Before either of the other two could reply, Bruce sighed and stepped forward,

"Tony, why haven't you ever said anything? We talk about literally everything," Bruce clicked his tongue, "What you're saying... it sounds like asexuality. Well, sex-repulsed asexuality. You aren't sexually attracted to people and you hate sex right?" Tony nodded hesitantly, then opened his mouth to say something, "I know, I know. But you like guys and want to be in a relationship?... That's romantic attraction."

"I," Tony sniffed and whispered, "That sounds... I didn't know there was a word."

"Of course there is. If I had known, I would have talked to you about. I am too, you know. I'm not sex repulsed, though." Natasha told him.

"Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I don't know. I wish that I had."

"Hey, if you guys don't mind I think me and Tony," Clint ignored Tony correcting him "Tony and I" under his breath, "have a lot to discuss."

Bruce looked unsure but walked out when Natasha pulled him.

"So what about kissing?" Clint asked abruptly.

"What?"

"How do you feel about kissing? Is it like sex? You just do it because I like it."

"No. I like it. You're a good kisser." Tony smiled and Clint chuckled,

"Okay. So what else? What are and what aren't you comfortable with?"

"Well making out is fun. But sometimes when you kiss me too soon afterward it's... well too much. And I..." his voice faltered.

"Go on. Seriously Tone. I want-need to know. Cuddling?"

"Yeah. That's good," After he said it, he bit his lip like there was something else he wanted to say and with an encouraging nod from Clint, he continued, "Well except for when you.. ahem... you know." And honestly, Clint knew him so well that he really did.

"Okay. No more, unless you change your mind sometime in the future."

"Can we finish this later?"

"Yeah. Of course, let's go join Brush." Tony squawked and shook his head, "No? I'll think of a better one."


	15. College Ch3

"Bruce?" Tony's voice called out. It was two in the morning and their respective significant others had gone home. It was important that Bruce get proper sleep for his mental health, but they had a mutual understanding when it came to "bad nights". Bruce groaned and half sat up,

"Nightmare?" Tony didn't answer, but Bruce just sat up completely and motioned him forward. He adjusted his body and laid down, hugging Tony close. He could feel Tony begin to shudder and bury his head in the crook of Bruce's neck. When Bruce woke up, they were in the same position and his neck was wet like Tony had been crying. Of course, this worried Bruce because even after his worst nightmares he'd never cried. Bruce jostled Tony a bit to wake him, "Tony?"

Tony sniffed and took a while to answer. When he did, he was so clear that it was as if he had been awake the whole time, "I don't want to go to class."

"Have you been up this whole time?" Tony simply nodded and Bruce sighed, "Okay. We'll have to reconfigure what tea and herb combination to use."

"Will you stay with me?" Bruce couldn't correct him just yet, he was too out of it. There was no class that day, but they did have something to do. It was only plans with their friends, but for the most part, they'd understand. Bucky, Steve's friend, was nice and always went with the flow. Thor just understood. Clint and Natasha would probably be worried about the fact that they both couldn't come. But Steve? Steve would be annoyed and angry as usual he'd probably make some comment about how Tony always cancels and thinks that he can do whatever he pleased, dragging Bruce with him.

"Of course. I'll text Nat."

 ***Hey Nat. We're not coming today.*** \- Bruce

 ***What's going on?*** -Natasha

 ***Tony's having a rough day.*** -Bruce

 ***Don't tell Clint.***

 ***Is this about yesterday?*** -Natasha

 ***He's not in a way to say.** **But I don't think so. He's... IDK.***

 ***I have to go. Bye.*** -Bruce

 ***See you later*-** Natasha

Back with Natasha, she locked her phone and shoved it in her back pocket,

"They're not coming today."

"What? Why?" Clint asked, "He was fine yesterday. We talked about it."

"I don't think it's about that. Bruce didn't say." Natasha replied as she walked into the café, "Hey. So, Bruce and Tony can't come today."

"Of course not." Steve snapped.

"Steve." Buck scolded because not only did he like going with the flow, he understood Tony. You see, Bucky originally hadn't wanted to go to college. He wanted to join the army, and he did. Then after less than a year, he was honorably discharged, missing an arm. While he wasn't overseas for that long, he did have dreams about what he saw. And he witnessed PTSD another soldier. So he noticed when Tony became uneasy, and when he was beginning to have a panic attack and either Bruce, Clint or Natasha ushered him away.

"What? He cancels all the time! It's annoying."

"No, he doesn't and you know it."

"Why are you defending him?"

* * *

Bruce had finally convinced Tony to get out of bed and eat when he mumbled,

"Jarvis died."

"Oh, Tony." Bruce knew better than to ask if that was why he was upset. Tony hated that.

"I had a nightmare before I woke up and got the call. I remembered... _stuff._ "

"Howard stuff." Tony nodded,

"He... I think he used me in the first trials of his experiment. I... for the past couple days I've been having fuzzy dreams about me going into the machine and being injected with what I suppose is the serum. Then they gave me stuff to forget."

"Do you think that's why you were sick a lot as a kid? Side effects?" Rather than answer, Tony brought up a new problem,

"What if... what if Clint becomes... _Justin_?"


	16. College Ch4

"What's going on Tony?" Bruce was worried. He'd expected Tony to be a little a little upset, seeing as what happened the day before. However, he didn't know that Tony would be as bad as he was. It had been a while since Tony needed to stay home, especially with Bruce with him. His nightmares had probably had increased for a while. Not to mention that he'd been dating Clint for the same amount as Justin before everything started to go wrong. The concern was valid, regardless of whether or not Bruce thought that Clint would change. When Tony didn't answer, he changed the question, "How long have you been thinking about all this?"

"A while." Tony's mumbled, refusing to make eye contact.

"Yeah?... You know, Natasha would kill Clint before she let that happen." It was pointless to tell Tony that he couldn't see Clint changing like Justin did. Neither of them had seen it coming. Well, that's not completely true. Bruce had his doubts, as did Rhodey. Natasha was the only one dead set against him. But neither of the boys had anything tangible to use as proof that Tony should break up with him and Natasha was so happy to see Tony happy, that even she was reluctant to interfere. Then Justin started getting rough with Tony. Bruce noticed it right away and tried to convince Tony that what was going on was wrong, but his childhood had him convinced otherwise. When they finally broke up, Bruce swore to himself that he'd be more proactive in the future. That explained why it seemed like he didn't like Clint all the time. Of course, he liked the guy, but he could become easily disgruntled when it seemed like Tony was or had the potential to be harmed or unhappy in any way.

"B-but what if _she_ doesn't see it coming?" He insisted.

"Come on. You know she would. And don't ask about whether or not she would believe it either. You know she would. She always trusts her instincts." Tony's relationship with Natasha versus Clints was complicated. Natasha had known Tony longer, so they were very close, but she had also become close to Clint during ROTC. They were often paired together when an assignment required it and they bonded. However, if it came down to it, her allegiance fell with Tony.

"I wouldn't want her to have to choose." When Tony said this, Bruce gently, yet firmly grabbed hold of Tony's shoulder and forced him to look at him,

"Tony. If he started treating you like Justin did, it. Wouldn't. Be. A choice."

Tony allowed Bruce pull him into a hug. After a while, he muttered, "I think you're right. The experiments may be why I have a bad heart... among other things."

"Yeah?"

"I don't know how or why yet. But maybe. Maybe we could discuss it and theorize?"

"Not today. Today we will binge watch Star Trek."

"Which one?"

"I was thinking we'd watch everything chronologically from The Original Series."

"Ugh. Even Insurrection and Voyager?"

"You know how this works. Even those two. Even the animated series; everything means everything."

"Fine. Tell Nat to bring the good popcorn." Bruce wasn't sure what to do at that point. If he asked Natasha to come without Clint, he'd become suspicious. However, if he couldn't deny Tony his request. So he obliged and texted their friend.

 ***What are you doing?*** \- Bruce

 ***Right now I'm in the bathroom. Why?*** \- Natasha

 ***Can you get some popcorn and come over?*** \- Bruce

 ***We're watching Star Trek.***

 ***And Clint?*** \- Natasha

 ***Just you.*** \- Bruce

 ***I'll be over soon.*** \- Natasha

"She's coming," Bruce told him, checking his phone as he received another text:

 ***Did he ever tell you what was wrong?*** \- Natasha

 ***Yes.*** \- Bruce

 ***It's bad Nat. You'll see when you come.***

* * *

"You started without me?" Natasha teased flatly, as she walked into their apartment, carrying a bag with a large tin of popcorn and insomnia cookies inside.

"You took too long," Tony told her. He was currently curled up in a small ball, leaning most of his weight into Bruce. They were about halfway through episode 1 of the first season.

"So should I be jealous of this?" She gestured to their current position. Bruce smiled and Tony shifted a bit so that his arm was freer and reached out to beckon her in a grabbing motion. After three episodes of them watching peacefully, eating their snacks, Natasha paused the TV, "We don't have to talk about it. But I would like to know what's wrong."

"Everything," Tony mumbled. Then after a moment, he clarified, "I've been having nightmares... Worse ones than usual. And Jarvis died. They told me last night, but it happened a while ago... Apparently I wasn't allowed at the funeral, so I was told afterward." Bruce quietly sighed "geez", but the full attention of Natasha was on Toy and vise versa.

"Tony?" The boy in question looked up nd made eye contact with her and sighed. He couldn't get anything past her.

"Clint," he whispered, " I-I'm worried about Clint... I'm afraid." He admitted it like it was a dirty secret, but Natasha understood almost immediately and rubbed his arm.

"We'll figure this out, okay? I won't let him hurt you if he tries." While to some it may sound like she didn't do enough to reassure him, this is what Tony loved about Natasha. She only said what she knew and or could promise. She never made up false statements just for the sake of comforting him. As they continued on their binge, Tony slowly dozed off between two of his closest friends that he had.


	17. College Ch5

It had been a week and Tony was still acting weird. He stopped avoiding Clint 3 days in, meaning Bruce did as well, but something still didn't seem right. Of course, Clint feared that it was because of that night. The night they almost had sex and he learned something very important about his boyfriend's sexuality. Tony seemed so genuine in his relief and contentedness, but maybe Clint had somehow misinterpreted the situation that night. On the tenth day of Tony's weird behavior, something happened with two major results. The first is that Clint found out what was wrong, and the second is that Clint discovered what one more thing that he could never do, under any circumstance, unless he wanted to truly hurt Tony and face the wrath of his protectors. Whilst in a somewhat abandoned hall, in the East wing of the library, Clint somehow managed to catch Tony on his own. He knew that Bruce couldn't be far so he had to act fast,

"Tony!" he shouted, jogging to catch up with the other boy.

"Hey Clint," Tony smiled weakly.

"Can we talk?" When Tony nodded, Clint hastily grabbed his arm and pulled him out the back door, "Whats going on? I honestly don't know what I did." Clint was so caught up in his own emotion that he didn't realize what he was doing. He had Tony pretty much backed against the brick wall behind him and was still holding on to his arm. He so rarely allowed himself to show so much emotion that he didn't even realize that he was almost shouting, nor did he pay attention to the fact that his boyfriend was on the verge of a panic attack. Tony's lack of an answer made Clint continue, "I- You said you were okay that night. And you genuinely seemed fine. Did something else happen that I'm unaware of? I-"

He was cut off by Bruce smashing open the door, with Rhodey and Natasha following. He wasn't even aware of their presence until he felt himself being pulled away from Tony, who he finally realized was in the middle of a complete meltdown. He wasn't having a normal "Tony panic attack"; he was standing there, frozen and not breathing. His face even began to change colors as Rhodey and Natasha tried to talk to him. When he realized who was talking, he realized that meant that Bruce was the one holding him. Though it wasn't Bruce, it was his other self that Tony had affectionately began calling "Hulk" (Clint didn't know his real name. Hulk didn't particularly like him, and Tony and Natasha only called him Hulk in his presence). His second personality had grown almost as fond of Tony as Bruce himself and took protecting him very seriously.

"Tony." Natasha tried placatingly, "Tony it's Natasha." She slowly reached forward and touched his hand. When she did, he flinched back so hard that his elbow slammed into the wall and began mumbling unintelligibly.

"Tony, you know where you are. You're right outside the campus library. Even though you didn't have to, you decided to continue getting your PhDs on campus to be with Natasha and Bruce. You're safe." Rhodey told him softly.

"инженеркя. Clint's an idiot, but that's all." Natasha continued and Tony's breath hitched as he took in a large gulp of air. Rhodey led him away and left Natasha and Bruce to deal with Clint. When Hulk calmed down and reverted back to Bruce, he helped Natasha explain everything to Clint. When they were done, Clint felt awful, but rather than confront him, he let Tony have his space. Then eventually, when Tony was ready, they talked and resolved all that could be resolved. And they stayed a couple, in a healthy relationship, for the next few years of college. And if Rhodey threatened Clint or punched him for what had happened that day, Tony was none the wiser.

He also conducted experiments with Bruce and found that what they had feared to be true, was. Howard had conducted experiments on Tony, that left irreversible side effects. However, they also discovered that they had worked in some ways. He was more like the "modified soldier", Steve, than he had originally thought. But that's another story.

* * *

 **AN: Ugh, I kind of hate how I ended that so cliche in the last paragraph.**

 **So the Russian word should translate to "little engineer" because I read adding кя at the end of words put "little" in front of the word and made it a term of endearment.**


	18. Tony(i) Ch1

**So they're in their early and mid-twenties in this one.**

Sam had no clue how he had gotten himself into such a shit situation, but there he was standing at the bedroom door, watching a sobbing Tony Stark. He was **sobbing**. Not only did he not know what to do about it, he also knew that he didn't have the option of accidentally making it worse by doing the wrong thing. Tony's boyfriend, Bucky, was notoriously over-protective. He may not have been quite as protective as Rhodey, but they were protective in different ways. Rhodey was more of an older brother; he was very firm in his protective, but it was more subtle and aimed towards helping Tony avoid getting hurt and comforting him when he was. Bucky, however, was protective in the "I will fight you" sense. Sure, Rhodey would fight for him if necessary, and Bucky probably comforted him too, but they both had their main modes. Then there was Natasha. She may not have seemed very fond of anyone, but anyone who knew her knew that she was very loyal and would literally kill for Tony, Bruce or Clint (in that order). Speaking of Bruce, he was known for explosive outbursts, if he was pissed off enough.

So basically, even if it was an accident, he was fucked if he made the situation worse. And it's not like he could leave the guy and come back; if something happened, he'd be blamed. So he had no choice but to call out and see how he could help,

"Ahem. Tony?"

"Go away!" He shouted.

"It's just me. Sam."

"I know who it fucking is! LEAVE ME ALONE!" At the last part of his sentence, Tony's voice cracked and it became more of a screech. Sam cursed under his breath,

"Should I get someone?" Their friends would be arriving soon, but he was at a loss as what to do until they came. They were currently in Thor's large apartment. Steve and Thor had gone to pick up some food and the rest of their friends hadn't even arrived yet. He'd assumed that since Bucky wasn't there, Tony wasn't either. Then he had gotten up to go to the bathroom and he heard the sobbing. It should have been weird that Thor didn't say anything, but if Tony was upset or didn't tell Thor why he was going into his bedroom, Thor wouldn't have mentioned it to anyone, but his "four protectors". And he might not even mention it to them. That's just how Thor is.

Sam noticed that Tony still hadn't said anything in return and he was about to ask again, then he heard a weak sniffling and a sigh,

"No." There was a pause, "Bucky."

"Okay." He hesitantly went back to the couch to get his phone, when he heard a rustling outside the door. Just then Steve and Thor walked in with two large pizzas and a bag of Chinese, their usual. Right behind him came Clint, then Natasha, Bruce and finally Bucky. When Bucky walked in, his eyes immediately began searching for Tony. Sam caught his eyes and attempted to discretely get him to follow him, "'I'll go get the sodas out of the kitchen."

"What do you want?" There was no animosity in his tone, but there was a bit of anxiety. There was that overprotective part. Tony must have told him that he'd meet him at the apartment.

"Tony's in the bedroom next to the bathroom," Sam explained and Bucky scowled slightly, wanting more of an explanation, "He's crying. I don't know why. It's nothing I did... but I asked him what I could do and he said to get you."As soon as he finished the sentence, Bucky was off and Sam took the sodas to their friends.

"Tony?" Bucky knocked o the door, before twisting the doorknob and opening the door, "I'm coming in."

When Bucky opened the door, Tony was no longer crying. He was wiping down his face to get rid of all the evidence that he had been crying.

"Hey, babe." Tony smiled weakly and artificially. Bucky knew immediately that something was wrong. There were two names that were "Tony Red Flags": babe and James. He only called Bucky James when he was beyond furious and or having a meltdown. And he only called him babe when something was wrong. When he needed help or comfort or something of the sort.

"Tones," Tony liked being called that, "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think that something is wrong?"

"You were crying. Sam told me."

"I didn't think he was actually going to get you," Tony mumbled, defeated. "Can't I just tell you later." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Yet, Bucky still smiled and nodded,

"Of course. Come go, let' go join the others."

"Can you tell?... That I was crying?" Tony asked before walking out. Bucky shook his head. If there was one thing that Tony is good at, it's putting on a good face.

"Ah, An-Tony was awoken!" Thor boomed and even though he corrected himself, Tony could barely suppress the involuntary flinch, "Did you have a nice rest?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Big Guy."

"Let he get this straight, Shellhead slept voluntarily?" Clint mocked.

"Well, it was more of a crash," Tony admitted.

"Yes. I carried him to my bedroom to sleep in peace."

"You carried him?!" Clint laughed hysterically.

"Okay Birdbrain, keep whatever joke you just thought of to yourself." Tony rolled his eyes dramatically and flopped down between Bruce and Natasha. To anyone else, it would look like he was upset with Bucky and didn't want to sit with him, but this was quite normal behavior for Tony. Bucky knew and understood that Natasha would probably always come before him in a way and that Bruce and Rhodey definitely would. Sometimes when Tony was upset, he'd choose to sit with Bruce and or Natasha over Bucky. Hell, there were times when he wasn't upset and Tony would still cuddle with Bruce instead. At first, Bucky had been jealous. Then he came to realize that these actions were purely platonic and that Tony needed them.

He curled his body into Natasha but then attempted to pull away when he saw Steve glaring at them. Natasha pulled him back in place and scowled at Steve. If Bucky wasn't jealous or upset, Steve had no right to judge.

"What movie are we watching?" Tony asked.

"Mad Max?" Sam said. "It comes highly recommended."

"Oh come one! No vote this time?" Tony groaned.

"Like what?"

" _The Arrival_?"

"Ugh, isn't that the movie about the linguist or something? No, I want to watch stuff blow up." Clint complained.

"Fine. _Terminator_. _Alien_. _Mercenaries_. Hell, any of the "Furious" movies." Tony listed off.

"Terminator. That is the American classic with Arnold Schwarzenegger?" Thor asked.

"Woah, you still haven't seen the Terminator?" Clint nearly shouted.

"I think we have our movie." Sam said, "Steve hasn't seen it either."

"Cool."

The movie was turned on and everyone began divvying up their food. Tony didn't move or show any interest in eating until Natasha literally shoved a container of rice into his hands. At some point in the movie, Tony began fidgeting and rubbing his chest. He was discreet enough that Sam, Steve, and Thor didn't notice. But Natasha and Bruce felt his mild shifts, and Clint was naturally very observant. Bucky noticed because he kept glancing over at him, worried about why he'd been so upset earlier. Bruce got up and summoned Tony with him to "get the ice cream" because he would have never admitted that he wanted to take some pain medicine, without Bruce or Natasha forcing him.

At the end of the night, Bucky sure that Tony got to his penthouse safe, even though he lived with Bruce, Natasha, and Clint. He told Bruce that they should be worried, then he made it to his own apartment.

* * *

"Hey, Tony." Bruce sat down next to his best friend on his bed, "Bucky told me you were crying earlier. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Tony... You know I can tell. Was it a nightmare?"

"I just... I was overwhelmed. I don't want Buck to break up with me."

"Tony, why on Earth would he break up with you?" Bruce asked worriedly.

"I... I don't want to talk about it."

"Tony if this is about-"

"Good night Bruce. If you want to stay in here, we're cuddling."  
"Okay." Bruce lied down with Tony and decided that he would revisit the question later. He suspected what was wrong and didn't like seeing Tony in such angst over something that he shouldn't be upset about. But he wouldn't force Tony to have a conversation that he wasn't ready for.


	19. Tony(i) Ch2

Tony had done a very good job at avoiding talking about that night. Then two things happened.

The first is Clint pointed out how long Tony's hair was getting; it was longer than Bucky's now. He jokingly mocked him about how he was trying to look more like Bucky, at the sacrifice of his chic looks. Of course, he laughed at it and started going back and forth with him. Then Steve said he looked like a girl. Later, instead of cutting it all off, he asked Bucky what he thought.

"Yes, I noticed. I think you look nice." Bucky assured him, "Come here."

Tony walked over to Bucky and sat between his legs like he'd motioned and felt Bucky begin to play in his hair. Tony did that sometimes when they were cuddling, but Bucky had never played in Tony's.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked, laughing a bit. It was hard not to notice that he sounded a bit uneasy; Tony almost always sounded a bit uneasy when he let his guard down, especially around Bucky.

"Just give me a second. I'm braiding it. A, B or C?"

"What?" his boyfriend scoffed, chuckling a bit.

"A, B, or C?"

"B."

"B it is," Bucky told him and continued to braid his boyfriend's hair. After a good 5 minutes, Bucky had finished and shoved Tony up, telling him to go get a good look at it in the bathroom mirror. The soft, but beaming smile that crossed his face was hard to miss. Bucky had experience with hair because of his younger sisters and had given Tony a beautiful, perfectly done "pull through" braid. "I told you you'd love it."

The next day he got several compliments from his friends and jokes from Clint. Steve didn't even say a word (it was because Natasha was glaring at him, but still).

The second thing that happened is that one day when Clint was snooping, he found a dress in Tony's closet. Now, he may tease Tony and joke around with him a lot, but he knew which situations to be careful about. So as Halloween came around, Clint dared Tony to dress in drag for 10 dollars. After a very long conversation that included Clint saying that he was basically Rapunzel and should dress up as her, Bruce pointing out that nothing was wrong with cross dressing, and comic book suggestions that included Elektra, the original Mystique, and Morgan le Fay. He finally opted for Carol Marcus, the brilliant physicist from Star Trek.

On Holloween night, the group of friends had plans to meet at Steve and Bucky's apartment before going. Steve had left the apartment to pick something up for his costume, a little before Tony showed up early. He changed in the bathroom before going into Bucky's room to show him. The costume was from the 2009 version of Star Trek and fit perfectly, and Tony naturally had very little hair, so he didn't need to shave.

"See? I told you you'd look good." Bucky smiled.

"Yeah?" Tony laughed, unsure.

"Yeah." Bucky smiled and leaned forward to kiss Tony. As they were making out, Bucky lifted him up and Tony wrapped his legs around him. Bucky carried him over to the dresser and set him down, where they continued. Meanwhile, their friends had begun to pile into the apartment and were waiting for them to come out.

"Calm down, Steve. The set time was 9 sharp. It's only 8:57, and they always come right on time." Bruce said.

"Yeah. They're probably just fixing each other's costumes." Clint smirked.

"Clint." Natasha scolded half-heartedly, "Leave it. They have another minute." When the clock hit 9, Steve got up,

"I'm getting them. We'll be late." Ignoring his friends' calls of protest, he went down the hall and opened Bucky's door. As soon as the door opened, Tony tried to shove Bucky away and Bucky resisted.

"Bucky! Stop, someone is in here." Tony giggled, still pushing Bucky away. When he finally pulled away, they saw that it was Steve and Tony immediately jumped down and attempted to control his breathing. Steve wasn't as much homophobic and he was Tonyphobic, but he had a tendency to make Tony feel uncomfortable about being gay.

"I just wanted to let you know that it's past 9." Steve cleared his throat and stared at them as the two men fixed their clothing.

"Yeah. Thanks, Steve. We'll be right out." Bucky told him, awkwardly fixing his pants.

"That's not what you're really wearing, is it Anthony?" Steve asked in an innocent enough voice that did nothing to hide the malice behind the question. Bucky's shock and anger over this were painted across his usually emotionless face. Ignoring the beginning of a shoddy self-correction from Steve, Bucky turned to Tony to say something comforting, but Tony stopped him,

"I'm going to go ahead and change, okay? Can you leave the room?" Tony was visibly shaking, so Bucky complied. He calmly followed Steve out of the room and closed the door before grabbing Steve roughly with his prosthetic arm and dragging him out of the apartment, past their friends. For context, Bucky had a complex relationship with his arm and usually preferred not to grab people with it Something about a glitch that it used to have and him nearly breaking someone's arm by accident.

"Woah. What happened there?" Clint grimaced. A few moments later, Tony emerged from Bucky's bedroom in a male, Star Trek engineering costume and somehow looked green, red, and pale all at the same time, "Oh, come on?! What happened to the dress?"

"Tony?" Bruce tried tentatively, when he didn't answer. Tony was trembling like a Chihuahua and he was barely in control of his breathing.

"I changed my mind. Let's go." Tony spat.

"What happened in there?" Clint asked, carefully this time.

"Steve caught us making out... well eh, a little more than making out." Then Tony noticed that the two men were missing, "Where are Buck and Steve?"

"Uh-" Before Clint could say anything, Bucky walked back into the apartment. His hand was lightly tinted red and he wore a nasty scowl on his face,

"Steve wanted me to tell you guys that something came up and he can't go to the party with us." Tony was pretty sure that he heard Clint mutter "Fucking finally", but no one else said anything.


	20. Tony(i) Ch 3

"Hey, Tony. Can I talk to you something?" Sam asked when Tony opened the door to his penthouse.

"Sure," Tony dragged out the word, sounding suspicious, "Come on in."

"So you're in the university's GSA, right?" Sam asked when they sat down on the couch.

"Yes." Now Tony sounded even more suspicious and unsure.

"Well, my cousin just came out as non-binary. And I was wondering if you could give me some advice about what not to do. You know I can prove that I care and am accepting."

"Oh... That's um good. That's great. First off, have you asked about their preferred pronouns?"

"Yeah. They/them."

"Good. That's a start. I mean beyond that, it depends on the person I guess. If they like clothes that are typically for the gender that they were not assigned, maybe help them look and or buy some for them. And support them in changing their name if that's something that they want to do. Be patient because some people go through several of them before they land on one they like. And," Tony had become less uncomfortable and increasingly animated as he continued. Then his face fell as he came to a sudden realization, "You- you don't have a nonbinary cousin do you?"

"No, I do!" Same sighed, "I've just known for about 2 years. Look, I know that you consider me more Steve's friend than yours and that I'm not exactly a main part of "the group". But I'd like to think that we've at least gotten used to each other. And I just had a suspicion, and if I'm wrong, then my bad. But I wanted to make sure that you knew that if you are nonbinary, that I'm someone you can talk to. You just remind me so much of Jude. They would alway look at dresses with such longing, it looked like it hurt. Then one day I found them dressed up in a dress and makeup when they thought that no one would be home. So I asked if they were a girl and they got so... mad. Like I offended them. They insisted that they were just as much of a guy as they had always been. Jude's always been a stereotypical 'tough guy'. The jock who got all of the girls and even more guys. So I did a ton of research and I came across nonbinary and approached Jude with it. And it was like a light went off, you know? And we narrowed it down to bigender. Jude was so, I don't know, relieved as if a weight was lifted off their shoulders."

"..."

"I'm sorry. I stepped over the line, didn't I? The similarities were just too much to ignore. Especially after Holloween."

"I-" Tony was struggling to control his breathing, "Yeah."

"'Yeah'?"

"I've been uh questioning. *sniff* I guess I'm not very good at hiding it, huh?"

"You don't have to. That's why you were so upset the other night, right? You were worried about being rejected?"

"So?"

"So maybe I can be someone you talk to about this."

"I don't want to change my name."

"You don't have to."

"I'm not bigender... I just like girl stuff."

"Okay."

For the next few weeks, Sam was someone that Tony confided in about his gender identity. He felt guilty about not talking to Bruce about it, so Bruce was the next person he talked to. And man did it feel great to tell Bruce.

"I'm glad you've been able to have someone to talk to and figure out your identity," Bruce told him.

"So you're not mad?" Tony asked, unsure.

"Why would- Tony no. I'm not mad at you for talking to Sam instead of me."

"Okay."

"What's wrong Tony?"

"What about..."

"Tones."

"Well... C-clint and Buck?"

"You know Clit doesn't care. He can be immature and crass, but he doesn't care. And Bucky... I think that Buck will be just fine too."

"Do ou think that he knows?"

"I don't know Tony. Mabey he just thinks that you like to cross dress, or maybe he thinks that your gender is a bit fluid. All I know is that he loves you and that I can see how uch you trust him. Tony, as much as you second guess yourself, as deep as your trust issues go, you have a superb judge of character and I can almost garuntee that anyone you can trust, I can trust. I don't think that you would trust him so much if your subconcious honestly believe that he'd leave you over something so improtant to defining who you are. Just take your time. And come out when you're ready. When you do, we'll be there to support you."

"'We'?"

"Me, Natasha, Clint. Whoever you need to be there. Even Rhodey is only a phone call away and would be present on the phone if you need him to be."

Tony began to shake, and stupidly tried to cover it up. Bruce could always tell when he was upset, when he was about to panic, basically if anything was even the slightest bit wrong, Bruce knew.

"Come here," Bruce commanded and pulled Tony into his lap. He noticed that Tony felt a little lighter and made note of that for the future. Sometimes when Tony was upset, he ignored basic needs like eating, "Let's sleep."

It was three weeks before Tony came out to Bucky. Durring that time period, he came oout to Rhodey durring a suprise 3 day visit and he came out to Clint and Natasha together. Clint confessed that he had seen the dress in Tony's closet and that was why he encouraged Tony to wear the dress on Holloween. It seemed like a safe and discreet way for Tony to explore it in public. When he finally did tell Bucky, it was a rainy day and they were alone in Bucky's apartment watching some horrible moee on Netflix that Bucky had to watch for his History of Film class.

"Hey, babe... I need to tell you something." Bucky shifted, so that the were both sitting up and he was facing his boyfriend.

"You can tell me anything."

"I... uh I'm not completely male. I think... well I think that the term "genderqueer" may be more accurate."

"Okay."  
"Okay?"

"Okay, I accept you. Tony, I don't car- no. That's wrong. I do care because that is part of who you are and to not care would be dismissing an important part of who you are. But I love you for you-"

"I don't want you to like me just because I'm a guy. I'm not completely male. I-"

"I don't just love you because you're a guy. I love you because you are Tony Stark, my wonderfully complicated boyfriend. And I should remind you, that I'm not completely gay either. I'm either bi or pan or fluid. All I know is that I don't limit my attraction to one gender and that I love you."

"Okay."


	21. Bonus Chapter

"I don't understand. Stevie, your mom is one of the sweetest people that I know. And I've never heard her say anything even remotely homophobic. In fact, she really does the exact opposite." Tony said. He was pretty much on top of Steve's lap, attempting to convince him to consider coming out to his mother. They had ben dating for an entire year and a half, and Tony had never even implied his own opinion on the topic. He always just told him to do what he thought was best. However, recently Tony had been encouraging Steve to tell his mother that they were dating.

"It's just not the right time," Steve told him, sighing.

"Baby, it will never be the 'right time'. You know that. It'll only get harder with time."

"What do you know?" Steve yelled harshly as he stood up, throwing Tony from his lap. "Your parents are _dead_! You don't have to tell them anything. And I'd think after what Obadiah did to you, you would be more understanding!"

The bedroom door slammed opened Clint rushed in to kneel next to Tony, who was sitting on the ground, holding the back of his head with his eyes cast downward. Even though Natasha was Steve's friend and could mostly vouch for his character, Clint didn't trust him. Therefore there was a rule that someone had to be home whenever the couple was at home and they forced double dates as often as possible. As it turns out, this was a good plan to have because if Clint hadn't been home, the situation could have turned out alot worse.

"Shit!" Clint exclaimed under his breath, "Rogers, you have to go."

"What? No. It was an accident and besides, he-"

"Get out," Clint muttered dangerously. As Steve hurried to collect his belongings and leave, Clint prodded at the back of Tony's head. Tony flinched and whispered unintelligibly as he did so, "I know it hurts. But I have to make sure you're okay... There doesn't seem to be any swelling and you're not bleeding. So that's good. I'll have Bruce double check you when he gets home. Let's go watch some TV."

Clint stood up and put his hand out to help Tony up, when Tony didn't respond or react in any way, he looked down and realized Tony was having a panic attack. He sat back down to comfort him and help correct his breathing.

"Hey, it's okay. You and I are just going to lay back and watch TV like we always do... Unless you want to talk about-"

"There is nothing to talk about. It was an accident. He just stood up too fast." Tony strained when he regained control of his breathing after a few minutes.

"I'm not just talking about that. What he said was not acceptable, I don't care how mad he was. No one says those things by accident."

"Clint... that's... I don't think he meant it. He was mad." For one of the strongest willed people Clint knew, Tony had a surprisingly low amount of self-confidence and could be incredibly sheepish. Actually, it wasn't really surprising if you knew him well, but it was certainly offputting when he expressed his concerns. Clint grabbed Tony's face not unkindly and forced his friend to look him in the eye,

"Listen to me carefully. Steve shouldn't have brought that stuff up, no matter how mad he was."

"You don't get it. I was pressuring him into coming out to his mom. I just...she knows about me. And she's so good to me... I just thought that... it's been so long."

"That's what this is about?"

Tony nodded, then began shaking like he was going to cry, "I'm being selfish. I'm being so selfish."

"No, you're not Tony. There is nothing wrong with you wanting to tell her that you've been dating for- what did you just say?"

"Nothing! Let's just watch that movie." Clint looked Tony up and down before nodding and beckoning him towards the couch in the common area. Clint turned on the TV and put on _The Matrix,_ sat on the couch and allowed Tony to lean onto him and put his head on his shoulder. After living with him for a while, Clint realized just how much Tony enjoyed cuddling. He didn't really like being touched, but the people who he was comfortable with and trusted were constantly making body contact with him. He preferred cuddling with Bruce and or Natasha to Clint, but he'd recently become more comfortable with Clint, meaning he was more comfortable making body contact. About 20 minutes in, Clint made an effort to keep Tony actively engaged in conversation to prevent him from falling asleep because he still wasn't quite sure about whether or not Tony had a concussion. After another 30 minutes, Bruce and Natasha walked into the apartment.

"Hey, we brought dinner." Bruce lifted up the bags in his hands, then he took in the scene in front of him and frowned.

"What happened?" Natasha asked.

"Steve hit him," Clint grunted.

"He didn't hit me... He pushed me because he was mad." Tony explained, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"He needs to be checked for a concussion. I already checked for bumps, blood and any symptoms that would be obvious. But I trust your examination more Bruce." Clint continued, ignoring Tony.

"Tony, what happened?" Bruce asked as he retrieved the first aid kit and went to examine Tony.

"Nothing happened Bruce. I was pressuring him to tell his mom about us and-"

"And he laid hands on you." Natasha deadpanned.

"Technically, he stood up too fast and accidentally pushed me off of him."

"You need to stop doing that. You can't keep making excuses for the people who hurt you."

"I'm not making excuses! It was my fault. I should have respected Steve. Besides, stop making this such a big deal, it's not like he-" Tony caught himself before the end of the sentence and immediately stiffed up and quieted down.

"It's not like he what? Tony! It's not like he what?!" Bruce pushed. He didn't mean to sound harsh, but his voice was tense and a bit unkind. When Tony whimpered and tried to pull away from the other man, who then cursed under his breath and then stopped his examination to raise his hands in a surrendering manner. "I'm sorry Tones. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Tony didn't answer verbally, but he nodded his head and offered a small smile.

"But we really would like to know what he did that was worse... Even if you only tell one of us, please tell someone." Clint tried.

"It's nothing he did. I was just going to say is not like he punished me or anything. He just made a mistake," Tony told them. For a moment all three of his friends stared at him silently. Bruce thought about asking him if this was about Justin. Justin who he'd grown up with. Justin who he'd dated before he met Bruce, even before he'd first croosed pathes with Nataha. Which was a bit too young to be dating, in Bruce's opinion.

Clint didn't know about Justin, so he thought about Obadiah and how messed up he was. It made sense right? People always say that girls with bad fathers wind up with bad boyfriends, so couldn't the same mindset be applied to young gay men?

It was Natasha who answered first, though. She knew about Justin, and Obie, and his partents (well Bruce knew about his parents too) and thought over what Tony could mean. He really could have been referring to any one of them. "Tony," She said, "What he did may have been an accident, but it's his lack of self control that is the issue. When someone is drunk and they harm another person, even if they wouldn't have done the action sober, they're still wrong. Only this is even worse because he wasn't intoxicated. He just allowed himself to be angry enough to lose control. That is never acceptable."

At this point, Tony looked like he was going to cry. He had known that Steve wasn't the best boyfriend in the world, but he'd never become physical before. After a short pause, he sighed and came to a conclusion, "You think I should break up with him.". It wasn't a question.

"I think," Bruce started slowly, "I think you should do what is best for you. And that if you need our help, we're here."

Natasha nodded in agreement and Clint hesitated, but bit his tounge. He wanted to shout "Of course you should!!" but it didn't seem appropriate. So he nodded as well and added,

"Yes. Also, whatever you decide to do, I don't think that you should do it alone."

"Okay."

And he did. Tony broke up with Steve the next day with all three of his roommates in the room with him. That afternoon, he called up Rhodey and explained what had happened. To say that Rhodey was disappointed would be an understatement. He should've seen this coming. Steve seemed like a good enough guy and even though something always seemed off about him, Rhodey didn't trust his first instinct. He, like everyone else, just wanted Tony to be happy. He longed for the day when he could see Tony in a lasting, healthy relationship. For a few months following the incident, Tony seemed lost. He made no attempts to find a new partner, he didn't talk about being interested in anyone, he even flirted with his friends less. Well except for Rhodey... and Bruce. Then he met Peter.

Peter Quill was a overconfident and annoying " kind of asshole", who happened to go to the same university as Tony and his friends. They first met due to a weird overlap between Thor and Peter's friend Gamora. When the two were introduced, they immediately hit it off, which was admittedly planned by Thor. He didn't know the fine details of what had just happened between Peter and his father, or what had happened between Tony and Steve, but he knew that they would be a good match for each other. He chose to omit the fact that his gathering was an elaborate matchmaking plan from everyone except his girlfriend, Jane.

Unsurprisingly, Peter and Tony hit it off. Unlike the men from Tony's past, Peter truly treated him how he deserved, which made his friends happy. There was a not so small incident right after they began dating where Tony had a bad panic attack while he and Peter were watching a movie. It was some space opera about bounty hunters, and there was a scene where they were torturing some outlaw.

"Oh shiiit!" Peter cursed under his breath. Peter sat up and paused the TV, "Tony? What's wrong? Tony." When Tony didn't respond, Peter took a second to calm himself and figure out what the best plan of action would be. First, he put on some ACDC and grabbed some sweets out of the fridge. Bruce had told him once that these were the best ways to ground Tony using sensory objects. And that usually worked for the really mild ones. The ones that he knew what was causing them. However, this time it didn't. Tony continued to panic, which was worsened by Peter's attempt to physically comfort him. When nothing worked, he resorted to calling Clint.

"What happened?!" Clint asked, motioning for Natasha and Bruce to get up from their seats so they could leave.

"I don't know! We were just watching a movie and he began panicking. I tried to help him ground himself. Nothing is working."

"Oh... Alright. We're on our way." Clint hung up before Peter could ask what "oh" meant. When they finally arrived at the apartment, Tony was snuggled into Peter's lap with his head in the crock if his neck. When Natasha made Tony get up to talk to her, Peter took it as his cue to leave. When Peter arrived home, only Gamora and Rocket were home.

"We have to break up!" He exclaimed, "I have to break up with Tony."

"What? Why?" Gamora questioned, standing up to be at eye level with her friend. Rocket just said "woah", his attention not leaving his game.

"He... I think he has PTSD." Peter breathed.

"Yes, I noticed. I thought you knew. Why do you have to break up with him?"

"I can't... I thought he just had bad anxiety. That's all he told me, anyway. I don't think that I can support him the way he needs, you know? He needs someone who's good with emotions."

"I have PTSD, you know." Rocket chimed in.

"Yeah. I know." Peter told him. Rocket paused his video game at this point,

"Does this mean that we shouldn't be comrades?"

"What?! Of course not!"

"Then why does it mean that you shouldn't be date Tony?"

"Because dating is different. And besides you don't... we aren't emotional people. Tony is."

"Do you remember that time we went swimming at the lake?"

Of course Peter remembered. Some douche made fun of Rocket's scars on his back. Peter took care of the situation by verbally humiliating the guy and comforting Rocket when they returned home and the two of them were alone. Only a very small part of their conversation was assuring Rocket that they didn't care about his scars and that noting was wrong with him. The rest was empty banter and eventually they fell into a nearly silent video game tournament. Which turned into a very loud video game tournament full of smack talk and cursing.

"Of course I remember Rocket... But he's not like us. He needs someone who can... I don't know, be emotional and crap."

"Oh trust me, you can be plenty emotional and sappy." Rocket snorted, turning his attention back to his game.

"What happened today? Were you able to help him calm down?" Gamora pushed.

"Well.. yes."

"Then unless you think that for some reason this relationship would be bad for you, get over yourself. Stop using his being sensitive as an excuse to break up for him. If you don't want to date him, fine. But don't make it seem like you're sound it for him. You're behaving selfishly."

"Yeah... yeah. You're right... I'm just going to go to my room."

And after that moment of doubt, Peter and Tony were a disgustingly cute couple. Peter learned all he could about how to help Tony when he needed and he became fluent in "Tony language". Tony

was a good boyfriend to Peter. And neither of their friend groups could've been more pleased.

 **AN:**

Hey so I know what the index says should be the next chapter, but I had writers block and this was the only thing that came to mind. I know that the ending seems a bit rushed. But I couldn't figure out how to end it and it was going to keep going and going. I hope it was enjoyable.


End file.
